This is a study of drinking practices and alcohol-related problems within Mexican-American families. It builds on prior findings that Mexican-American men have high rates of alcohol use, with consequent alcohol-related problems for their families. The study takes into account the special circumstances, characteristics, and cultural premises of this population. Specifically, we address the relationships among drinking behavior, family systems, and the sociocultural context in which they are situated. Using the Principal Investigator's family-level cultural approach in conjunction with social network analysis, the study will: 1) develop knowledge about family level processes that inhibit or support the development and maintenance of drinking and alcohol-related problems in Mexican American families; 2) develop knowledge about individual and family social networks and their relationship to drinking practices and related problems in Mexican American families; 3) relate the cultural and organizational drinking ecology of the community where the study population lives to their drinking practices and related problems; and 4) develop both a strategy for dissemination of information and family-oriented, culturally appropriate prevention guidelines based on the study's findings. The research design calls for a three-year study using multiple methods and research stages. The first stage is a community ethnography. The second stage involves a survey of husbands and wives from 200 families in the community. The third stage will consist of case studies of 20 families selected from those surveyed, where fathers are moderate or heavier drinkers. The final stage and ultimate goal is to develop a set of programmatic guidelines for the prevention of alcohol-related problems in the Mexican-American population. This project will make an important contribution to what we know about drinking problems in Mexican American communities: it places emphasis on family-level processes in drinking behavior, an understudied but extremely important aspect of Mexican American life; it offers a culturally sensitive theoretical approach and multi-method research design from the study of alcohol use within an American ethnic minority that experiences substantial alcohol-related problems; and it lays the groundwork for a family intervention model with preventive value for one of the nation's fastest growing ethnic groups.